Cognito Forms vs. WordPress

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cognito Forms
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Cognito Forms, from the company of the same name in South Carolina, is presented by the vendor as an easy-to-use online form builder, allowing anyone to create, publish, and manage forms, with free and paid plans. With it, users can create unlimited forms including registration forms, payment forms, and surveys without coding. Forms can be embedded directly into a website, and form submissions can be viewed from any device, any time.
$19
per month 2 users
WordPress
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Wordpress is an open-source publishing platform popular with bloggers, and a content management system, known for its simplicity and modifiability. Websites may host their own blogging communities, controlling and moderating content from a single dashboard.
$3
per month 6 GB storage
Pricing
Cognito FormsWordPress
Editions & Modules
Free
$0
1 user
Pro
$19
per month 2 users
Team
$39
per month 5 users
Enterprise
$129
per month 20 users
Personal
$4
per month 6 GB storage
Premium
$8
per month 13 GB storage
Business
$25
per month 50 GB storage
Commerce
$45
per month 50 GB storage
Enterprise
Contact for pricing
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cognito FormsWordPress
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPricing for Business and Commerce plans vary on number of GB.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cognito FormsWordPress
Features
Cognito FormsWordPress
Survey Format & Appearance
Comparison of Survey Format & Appearance features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
8.3
4 Ratings
4% above category average
WordPress
-
Ratings
Survey templates8.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Themes7.04 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom logo/branding9.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Content
Comparison of Survey Content features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
8.7
4 Ratings
3% above category average
WordPress
-
Ratings
Changes to live survey8.53 Ratings00 Ratings
Question design help8.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Multiple question types9.04 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Logic
Comparison of Survey Logic features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
9.5
4 Ratings
13% above category average
WordPress
-
Ratings
Survey logic flexibility9.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Survey Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
9.5
4 Ratings
16% above category average
WordPress
-
Ratings
Response tracking9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Data export9.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports9.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Analytics9.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Administration & Security
Comparison of Survey Administration & Security features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
9.8
4 Ratings
13% above category average
WordPress
-
Ratings
Access controls9.54 Ratings00 Ratings
Compliance10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
Survey Distribution
Comparison of Survey Distribution features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
9.3
3 Ratings
14% above category average
WordPress
-
Ratings
Vendor-offered crowdsourcing9.53 Ratings00 Ratings
Respondent restrictions9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
-
Ratings
WordPress
8.1
159 Ratings
1% below category average
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.1159 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
-
Ratings
WordPress
7.9
134 Ratings
2% above category average
API00 Ratings7.9124 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings7.8103 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
-
Ratings
WordPress
8.1
166 Ratings
4% above category average
WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings7.8151 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings7.3152 Ratings
Admin section00 Ratings8.3164 Ratings
Page templates00 Ratings8.7160 Ratings
Library of website themes00 Ratings8.6162 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings8.5161 Ratings
Publishing workflow00 Ratings8.1154 Ratings
Form generator00 Ratings7.1131 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Cognito Forms
-
Ratings
WordPress
8.2
164 Ratings
9% above category average
Content taxonomy00 Ratings8.1142 Ratings
SEO support00 Ratings7.9148 Ratings
Bulk management00 Ratings7.5125 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings9.2152 Ratings
Community / comment management00 Ratings8.3152 Ratings
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Cognito FormsWordPress
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User Ratings
Cognito FormsWordPress
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(6 ratings)
8.6
(203 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
4.5
(38 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(5 ratings)
8.1
(50 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
9.5
(3 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.6
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(3 ratings)
10.0
(11 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(10 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cognito FormsWordPress
Likelihood to Recommend
Cognito Forms
It's excellent for small sets of forms, from simple to highly complex It's not good at scale. With over 170 forms now, we desperately need some way to manage and maintain shared content once Cognito does not help. Their approach is that you can copy a working form (great) and modify it to create the next one. That's how we've got so many forms...
Read full review
Automattic
Wordpress is a great solution for a website of nearly any type. It may not be as suitable if a fully custom solution or app is needed, and it does have some limitations when it comes to connecting it to external products (especially if the product doesn't have any support from a native system), and it does require a lot of testing. Multiple plugins in one install are common but also increase the risk of conflicts, and when those do occur, it can be exceptionally time-consuming and tedious to identify what is causing the issue. As third parties create many plugins, you're also at risk with each potential security breach, which needs to be kept in mind. I would be cautious to use WordPress to store any sort of sensitive PPI. That said, it's a wonderful, easily customizable solution for many, many different types of websites and can allow even inexperienced client users with low-tech knowledge to update basics.
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Pros
Cognito Forms
  • New Hire Form - It announces the new hire and provides direction to several departments on their needs, computer, phone, security level, etc.
  • Terminations - We use it to shut off security, badges, computers, track phone, electronics, etc.
  • Temp Form - It provides an avenue to enter them into our payroll system for tracking hours, also, for the start and end dates.
Read full review
Automattic
  • Easy to use User Interface
  • Coding / Plugin Implementation is awesome
  • There's always a solution available for the platform
  • Security is easy to use and robust
  • Implementation with 3rd party platforms, such as Google's variety of tools
  • Can download and host on your own server or use their hosted servers
Read full review
Cons
Cognito Forms
  • It isnt the most user friendly if you have someone who isnt experienced
  • Learning curve is pretty high
  • Should be easier to customise the formatting
Read full review
Automattic
  • WordPress breaks often so you need to have someone who understands how to troubleshoot, which can take time and money.
  • Some plugins are easier to customize than others, for example, some don't require any coding knowledge while others do. This can limit your project if you are not a coder.
  • WordPress can be easily hacked, so you also need someone who can ensure your sites are secure.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Cognito Forms
No answers on this topic
Automattic
The complications we have and the lack of support. Every plugin has a differente team of support in charge and make one plugin work with the other one always affects the website performance. It's a thousand times better to have only one provider with all functionalities included unless you are an expert web developer or have a team dedicated to it
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Usability
Cognito Forms
We have been using Cognito Forms for over 5 years. We find it very easy use and it is part of the programs we use on a daily basis.
Read full review
Automattic
Extremely easy to use and train users. It took very little time to get everyone trained and onboarded to start using WordPress. Anytime we had any issues, we were able to find an article or video to help out or we were able to contact support. The menu options are well laid out so it is easy to find what you are looking for.
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Reliability and Availability
Cognito Forms
No answers on this topic
Automattic
Anyone can visit WordPress.org and download a fully functional copy of WordPress free of charge. Additionally, WordPress is offered to users as open-source software, which means that anyone can customize the code to create new applications and make these available to other WordPress users.
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Performance
Cognito Forms
No answers on this topic
Automattic
Mostly, any performance issues have to do with using too many plugins and these can sometimes slow down the overall performance of your site. It is very tempting to start adding lots of plugins to your WordPress site, however, as there are thousands of great plugins to choose from and so many of them help you do amazing things on your site. If you begin to notice performance issues with your WordPress site (e.g. pages being slow to load), there are ways to optimize the performance of your site, but this requires learning the process. WordPress users can learn how to optimize their WordPress sites by downloading the WPTrainMe WordPress training plugin (WPTrainMe.com) and going through the detailed step-by-step WordPress optimization tutorials.
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Support Rating
Cognito Forms
Very friendly and helpful, but typically takes at least one day to respond. However, when they do respond they dive right into the specific form I ask about and tell me exactly how to fix what I need help with
Read full review
Automattic
I give this rating, which I believe to be a great rating for a community based support system that's surrounding it. Most platforms and products have their own, and as WordPress does have their own team that help here and there, a lot of it's handled by community involvement with dedicated users who are experts with the system who love to help people.
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In-Person Training
Cognito Forms
No answers on this topic
Automattic
Varies by the person providing training. High marks as it's incredibly easy to find experienced individuals in your community to provide training on any aspect of WordPress from content marketing, SEO, plugin development, theme design, etc. Less than 10 though as the training is community based and expectations for a session you find may fall short.
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Online Training
Cognito Forms
No answers on this topic
Automattic
It is very easy to find online resources to learn how to do just about anything with WordPress.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Cognito Forms
No answers on this topic
Automattic
WordPress is not a great solution if you have: 1) A larger site with performance / availability requirements. 2) Multiple types of content you want to share - each with its own underlying data structure. 3) Multiple sites you need to manage. For very small sites where these needs are not paramount, WordPress is a decent solution
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Alternatives Considered
Cognito Forms
I have not used any other programs like Cognito Forms. I have been with my company for almost two years. I very much like the ease of this system and its capabilities. I like knowing everyone is using the same thing. I do not foresee us making any changes to our current use of Cognito Forms.
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Automattic
WordPress isn't as pretty or easy to use as certain competitors like Jimdo, Squarespace or HubSpot, but it makes up for it with its affordability, familiarity and the ability to find quality outside help easily. The same can't be said for certain competitors, as you might need to find an expert and it could get costly.
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Scalability
Cognito Forms
No answers on this topic
Automattic
WordPress is completely scalable. You can get started immediately with a very simple "out-of-the box" WordPress installation and then add whatever functionality you need as and when you need it, and continue expanding. Often we will create various WordPress sites on the same domain to handle different aspects of our strategy (e.g. one site for the sales pages, product information and/or a marketing blog, another for delivering products securely through a private membership site, and another for running an affiliate program or other application), and then ties all of these sites together using a common theme and links on each of the site's menus. Additionally, WordPress offers a multisite function that allows organizations and institutions to manage networks of sites managed by separate individual site owners, but centrally administered by the parent organization. You can also expand WordPress into a social networking or community site, forums, etc. The same scalability applies to web design. You can start with a simple design and then scale things up to display sites with amazing visual features, including animations and video effects, sliding images and animated product image galleries, elements that appear and fade from visitor browsers, etc. The scaling possibilities of WordPress are truly endless.
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Return on Investment
Cognito Forms
  • We've been able to get away from Word and pdf forms and build a functionality that is conditional on form content
  • The speed of getting a good-enough version up and running to meet an immediate business need is outstanding
  • The cost of improving a set of almost good-enough forms or propagating a change in business rules is depressing
Read full review
Automattic
  • Allowed us to being all websites under a single umbrella, saving costs on similar products.
  • It's increased our website turn time and made us faster and more efficient at launching websites.
  • Edits and tweaks happen much faster as we have a customized environment.
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ScreenShots